The Local 913: The Affordable Floors

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According to Harvey Coblin and Kirk Botula, The Affordable Floors got their name in a very Pittsburgh way. "We were driving along Banksville one day and were trying to think of a band name and saw that and thought, 'Hahaha that’ll be a funny band name.' We thought we’d get a real name later." The name stuck and The Affordable Floors became one of Pittsburgh’s most popular bands in the 1980s and 90s, receiving praise and airtime from local radio stations. "There was a commercial station in Pittsburgh – WXXP – that was playing local music in regular rotation and that caused the local music scene to just explode," said Botula.

Their sophomore album Drumming On The Walls broke nationally and the Floors were getting airplay as far away as Miami and Juneau, Alaska. They signed to MCA records in 1990, but due to a takeover at the label, the band was dropped and the album put on hold. The band, however, continued to tour and record for the next few years. "What made us stop was that it stopped being fun for a while back in the early 90’s," said Coblin, "We had signed with MCA and then were dropped and we were trying to save the record deal."

After 23 years and a couple reunion shows, The Affordable Floors got back together to record some new material and they’re very happy about it, saying, "It’s really fun to be in conversation together again, because our music was always very conversational." The album’s title track – “Every Broken Heart Will Mend” – is "a hopeful song," says Botula, "Each verse deals with people dealing with loss or pain and it’s a song saying, 'Look, it’s going to be okay.'"